How does one make sense of the interplay between man's finitude and the subtle hope for belief in something larger, some strain of religious life? Ezra Koenig, lead singer and lyricist for Vampire Weekend, has lately had this question in mind, if the indie-pop group's new album is any indication.

Someday I might lose my chops; I fear a wobble has entered my voice already, a vibrato big enough to drive a truck through. But I will sing, sing at the top of my lungs until I can't anymore, I will sing with my last breath. It's all prayer.

I have come to realize that I probably make films because I'm not a musician. I've always had a special admiration, perhaps it's a sweet envy, for the musically talented. Thankfully, music forms the emotional basis of most, if not all, filmmaking.

He tilts his head upward, with a thoughtful smile, and says he was fascinated by the monastic rhythm of life that brought one, compulsively and predictably, back to an awareness of the presence of God.

The Catholic Church first truly cultivated the art of music as we know it. In the service of praising God, it fostered a number of innovations that inform the ways we create and transmit music even today.